Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai announces ES120 portable digital piano

What for do you really need the triple sensors, if the action feels good and the dual sensor works just fine? Does the RHC II FEELS really feel better to you than the RHC? Or is it maybe the other way round? You should check this blindfolded ;-)

And with respect to the MIDI DIN connectors: yes, would have been nice if they kept it, but I think if you have to meet certain production costs and you have to go for either MIDI DIN or MIDI USB then definitely the vast majority of your customers will want you to go for the USB port. And that's what Kawai did. I think the USB port is a big improvement. People who want to control their old synthesizer gear equipped with old style MIDI DIN ports are not the target group of the ES-120. The target group are people who want to learn playing piano and never had any kind of piano before. And for this purpose, I think, it delivers awesome bang for the bucks.

Hi @Animisha,

Long story short, your VPC1 is a much better/more advanced instrument. Hope you're still over the moon with it.

Cheers and the happiest playing,

HZ

I am but a humble (ob)servant; I simply observe and opine based on my neutral and/or non-biased observations. There is not a single angry bone within me, and if/when my observations lead in the direction of a critique, it is with much respect that I propose such critique; which is, of course, open for debate.

I do not set out to ‘set’ a tone of any kind; the tone sets itself as the conversation evolves.


Yours truly,

Pete

What is open for debate? Your respect?

I was able to play an ES110 at a local retailer in December last year. Overall I found it a joy to play. My only complaints were the low volume of the speakers and slight ricochet on key return (which I only noticed during one particular piece). Sounds like the ES120 has made some progress in both these areas but I will have to wait for retail stock to try one out.

They marketed 2x10 watts and better sound diffusion, you are right.
The ES110 (old version) is at EUR 555 (white) at Thomann

If they maintain the price around 600, it would be a nice DP.

Of course kawai could have put inside their millénium III keybed, with their latest sample versions/software and it would have been more than perfect. But hey, this is a 600 EUROS range DP.

When will we know the actual pricing?!

So, the ES110's RH Compact already had grade-weighted hammers. So does it seems like the main improvement is revised cushioning to reduce key noise (always a welcome change)?

It doesn't appear to support USB audio???
Surprising in this day and age.

Looks like they swapped the good pedal for better key bounce cushioning.

So manufacturing cost will remain pretty much the same (well slightly more expensive at the moment due to DAC chip cost increases).

So overall retail prices should remain in the same range as the ES110.

Pour one out for the F-10H. A high quality, metal, continuous-capable optical pedal was a substantive differentiator of Kawai's budget offering versus others.

Does it support F-10H or similar as an optional? IOW, does it support half pedalling, even if requiring buying an extra accessory? TBH I am surprised Kawai released the 120, to me, the ES520 was its successor (at a premium cost). Apparently Kawai thought there still would be demand for a 120 for people on really low budget and these would not care about the switch pedal and it was worth spending the $$$ developing it.

I really like Kawai sound, and I do believe that SK EX sample will be a nice add on.

The action’s update will be welcome as well.

But the fact that there is no audio over USB or, at least, an audio rec feature, is a deal killer.

It is inexplicable why Kawai is repeating this mistake again - it is a few dollars issue, but a pretty mandatory feature on a modern DP.

Please allow me to elaborate a little more on my previous post.

Nowadays it is quite an accepted concept that to record, listen to and share our own executions is an invaluable tool for musical education, even at a beginner level.

So the possibility to perform audio rec in an easy and uncomplicated way is paramount even for a beginner instrument.

On the other hand, internal MIDI rec should be removed, it is a complete waste when powerful tools like Reaper are easily accessible to everyone.

Yep! 👍

What piano do you guys recommend for a beginner? ES120 or ES110 (might be discounted now with the release of ES120)? How was the scene between ES100 vs. ES110 back in 2017? How long was the ES100 on sale after the release of ES110?

There's quite much new actually. I guess this summarises at least most of it:
- improved keyboard action, better cushioning for key release
- new piano (and other) sounds, including SK-EX and an upright (Yay! Upright!)
- String Resonance and more Virtual Technicial parameters added
- improved Bluetooth support, now with audio too
- SHS headphone optimization
- improved amplification/speakers (greater wattage at least)
- Low Volume Balance feature added
- visual redesign
- a new light gray option in selected markets

I might be interested if I get bored with my ES-100. 😀

Kawai's press releases about the new models try to highlight what's new: https://www.kawai-global.com/news/kawai-announces-new-es120-portable-digital-piano/

(https://www.kawai-global.com/news/kawai-announces-new-cn201-cn301-digital-pianos/ for the CN models)

James had just an excerpt in the initial post.

I don't understand why all of you are freaking out over the now included pedal.
Where is the problem here? I don't see any. Neither Yamaha and Roland are offering a great pedal in their entry level slabs. Blame it on the weak competition.


For those who will use the HML-2 designer stand, they will most likely also get the F-351 triple pedal board and never ever in their life miss the F-10H, because they are not using it anyway. And those who want a better portable pedal they can buy and use a F-10H or now even an GFP-3 pedal unit. You don't have to break the bank. The GFP-3 ist now supported, for those who want to use a three-pedal unit this is an improvement.

I think Kawai has put together a great package of features into an affordable portable and if some is so happy with his ES-120 that he is using it even for gigging, chances are high that he will be willing to pay a little bit extra for an GFP-3 and actually enjoy gigging and groupies instead of enjoying whining over not wanting to spend a view bucks for a better pedal. Life is short after all.

The GFP-3 pedal unit support is actually a great improvement. (And apparently at least partly the reason to have a new triple pedal bar design as they use the same connector.)

And of course many people are happy with a single on/off sustain pedal and just stick to that.

I just tried mine out for the first time today. out of curiosity. I bought the triple pedal unit and stand from new, so I never got a round tuit.
The single pedal supplied with ES110 is a lot better than that on the triple unit.
I shall be invalidating the guarentee on my pedal unit shortly.
But it'd be interesting to hear the new model and the updated sounds. ES110 doesn't tell us what sounds they are. It's just grand piano 1, 2 etc and studio pianos. I find the best of them preferable to the sickly-sweet CFX, so there are still strong similiarities between those two manufacturers' offerings.